Leinster old boy Conor Oliver only focused on Connacht duty
Typical. You wait all this time for a crack at a knockout tie in the European Cup and who lands into town for the game only that lot from down the road.
Leinster could hardly be a more familiar foe for Connacht at the Sportsground tomorrow evening. Not just because of the geographical proximity and the twice-yearly meetings in what is now the URC, but because of the consistent and heavy layer of traffic that has made its way from east to west over the years.
True, Robbie Henshaw and one or two more have moved in the opposite direction but pore over the 44 names in Andy Friend’s senior squad this year and 15 of them wore a blue representative jersey at some point in their rugby journey.
Four of them featured for the Leinster senior side, the rest found their glass ceiling either in the academy, sub-academy or at underage level. Among that cohort is Conor Oliver who played U18 and U19 and made the sun-academy for the province before leaving for Munster before the switch to Connacht.
It’s hard not to imagine a scenario whereby at least some of those players will be playing with something of a point to prove on such a magnified stage and against this particular opponent but Oliver, seemingly, won’t be one of them.
“I parked all that Leinster stuff a good few years ago now. Obviously when I first went from there to Munster there was a kind of a chip on my shoulder with that type of stuff but I have been gone so long now that it doesn’t even come into my head.
“It is obviously great for my family more so on that side of things but for me, this is just another massive game for Connacht. It is another game against one of the best teams in the competition and that’s all I’m really focused on.”
In fairness, he’s further removed from Leinster than many of his teammates whose origins lie in or around the capital in that he is seven years gone now. If there is a personal motivation this next two weeks it is focused on the future rather than the past.
It would have been no surprise to see him named in the Ireland Six Nations squad but Andy Farrell did pick up the phone to him this season such was his form at openside. The summer’s extended New Zealand tour is an obvious target.
Tomorrow’s Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 first leg offers a golden opportunity, maybe his best, in terms of booking a ticket to the southern hemisphere given the quality and the quantity of Leinster’s back row.
“The quality of player they have and the depth and how they can rotate their bench, it’s no secret that they have one of the strongest squads. I’m excited for the challenge. I always like going up against international back rows from Ireland.
“It’s a great marker to set for myself where I am at if I have my own international ambitions as well. Personally, it’s a massive game for me as well on that side of things. I can’t wait. I’m buzzing.”
The scale of the challenge hardly needs emphasising. Connacht’s form has been up and down this season and, while they are always capable of taking even the most prized of scalps, the odds of them progressing to the quarter-finals are only elongated by dint of the fact that this one is decided over two legs.
You might catch Leinster once but… “For me, Leinster are just so clinical with the way they play. When they get an opportunity they take it. That's the biggest challenge I see. It's just stopping giving them opportunities. That's through discipline, making it hard for them to earn scores.
“That's the main thing we need to do. When we have the ball and hold onto the ball we're a dangerous team. You can see it on the stats how good our rugby is when we have the ball. On the other side of the ball, that's where we need to stop momentum and stop them.”
